Take Me Out To The Gala... (SLIDESHOW)

Take me out to Challenge Unlimited at Ironstone Farm's 15th annual Spirit of Giving Gala at Lowell Memorial Auditorium. Take me out to the crowd of 450 baseball fans. Buy me some Lenzi's peanuts and crackerjacks. I don't care if I never get back. Let me root-root-root for the honorees — Dennis Eckersley and Bob Lobel — both of whom have lived up to their fame. For it's one, two, three strikes your out if you don't support Ironstone Farm.

LOWELL — Admit it, you were singing along.

Anyway, Ironstone Farm of Tewksbury held its Spirit of Giving Gala on Nov. 3 at the auditorium both to raise money for the farm, which provides therapeutic programs for children with disabilities, veterans and first-responders suffering from PTSD, and others, and to honor the two Boston favorites.

Lobel, the beloved sports news reporter and anchor who ruled the airwaves for more than four decades on at WBZ-TV Boston, received the Joann Weber Award. Eckersley, known affectionately as Eck, the six-time All-Star pitcher for the Red Sox and A's (and sometimes color commentator for Red Sox games) who earned the coveted Cy Young Award and the American League MVP award, a rare honor for pitchers, received thte Spirit of Giving Award.

Ironstone Farm hit a home run with this event, as hundreds of fans got to meet and greet the celebrities, plus enjoy dinner, drinks and an extra-inning concert by Lowell's own Jon Abrams & the Billy Joel Rock' n' Roll Show.

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